A wildfire that blackened 16,681 acres of back-country terrain near Barrett Lake this week was fully contained Sunday, the firefighting efforts aided by a persistent drizzle, 10News reported.
As of Sunday morning, 859 firefighters remained on scene, checking for hotspots and extinguishing any embers, said Robert Brady, information officer for the U.S. Forest Service. About 1,400 firefighters were fighting the blaze Saturday.
By the end of Sunday, the firefighting force will be halved as more and more teams are demobilized, Brady said.
Officials said full containment came a day earlier than expected, partly because of drizzle and light rain from a tropical storm system off Baja.
The rain, which is expected to bring persistent morning and nighttime drizzles through Tuesday, is a remnant of Tropical Storm Emilia, which arrived in Baja California earlier this week, according to National Weather Service Meteorologist Art Horton.
Twenty-three firefighters have been injured fighting the blaze, including one who at first suffered an apparent heart attack.
The firefighter, with a crew from North Star, Alaska, actually was having trouble breathing because his tonsils swelled, Brady said.
The other injured firefighters suffered typical job-related injuries.
"Smoke, heat, twisted knee, twisted ankle, the usual," a firefighter said.
All evacuation orders prompted by the blaze were lifted Thursday as firefighters -- aided by high humidity levels as well as scattered showers earlier in the week -- gained ground on the blaze.
On Thursday, authorities deactivated the county's Emergency Operations Center, which is used to coordinate law enforcement and crisis response during a disaster.
Should conditions change and the fire again pose a threat to communities, the center will be reactivated, officials said.
Lyons Valley Road, which had been closed since the fire erupted early on Sunday, was reopened, 10News reported.
The blaze, sparked by an abandoned campfire in Horsethief Canyon, at one point threatened about 1,500 homes and more than 100 commercial properties but caused no known structural damage.
Copyright 2006 by 10News.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
